Cyber Bullying & School Bullying

• Keep your home computer(s) in easily viewable places, such as a family room or kitchen.
• Talk regularly with your child about online activities that he or she is involved in.
  • Talk specifically about cyberbullying and encourage your child to tell you immediately if he or she is the victim of cyberbullying, cyberstalking, or other illegal or troublesome online behavior.  View the Campaign’s Webisodes with your child and discuss in particular Webisode 5 that addresses cyberbullying.
  • Encourage your child to tell you if he or she is aware of others who may be the victims of such behavior.
  • Explain that cyberbullying is harmful and unacceptable behavior.  Outline your expectations for responsible online behavior and make it clear that there will be consequences for inappropriate behavior.
• Although adults must respect the privacy of children and youth, concerns for your child’s safety may sometimes override these privacy concerns.  Tell your child that you may review his or her online communications if you think there is reason for concern.
• Consider installing parental control filtering software and/or tracking programs, but don’t rely solely on these tools.

Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

Available research and experience suggest that cyberbullying may differ from more “traditional” forms of bullying in a number of ways (Willard, 2005), including:

• Cyberbullying can occur any time of the day or night.
• Cyberbullying messages and images can be distributed quickly to a very wide audience.
• Children and youth can be anonymous when cyberbullying, which makes it difficult (and sometimes impossible) to trace them.

Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

According to one telephone survey of preteens and teens (Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2006):

• 51% of preteens but only 35% of teens who had been cyberbullied had told their parents about their experience.
• 27% of preteens and only 9% of teens who had been cyberbullied had told a teacher.
• 44% of preteens and 72% of teens who had been cyberbullied had told a friend.
• 31% of preteens and 35% of teens who had been cyberbullied had told a brother or sister.
• 16% of preteens and teens who had been cyberbullied had told no one.

Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

In a telephone survey of preteens (6-11 year-olds) and teens (12-17 year-olds) (Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2006):

• 45% of preteens and 30% of teens who had been cyberbullied received the messages while at school.
• 44% of preteens and 70% of teens who had been cyberbullied received the messages at home.
• 34% of preteens and 25% of teens who had been cyberbullied received the messages while at a friend’s house.

Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

In studies of middle and high school students, (Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2006; Kowalski et al., 2005; Wolak, Mitchell, & Finkelhor, 2006) the most common way that children and youth reported being cyberbullied was through instant messaging. Somewhat less common ways involved the use of chat rooms, emails, and messages posted on Web sites. A study of younger children (Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2006) showed that they were most often bullied through email, comments on a Web site, or in a chat room.

Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

In a recent study of students in grades 6-8 (Kowalski et al., 2005):

• Girls were about twice as likely as boys to be victims and perpetrators of cyber bullying.
• Of those students who had been cyberbullied relatively frequently (at least twice in the last couple of months):
  • 62% said that they had been cyberbullied by another student at school, and 46% had been cyberbullied by a friend.
  • 55% didn’t know who had cyberbullied them.
• Of those students who admitted cyberbullying others relatively frequently:
  • 60% had cyberbullied another student at school, and 56% had cyberbullied a friend.

Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services